Non Samurai Guy #3 Live in Fear, Bad Sleep Well.

Hello again, here are more reviews of Kurosawa non-Samurai movies. If you enjoyed the last two, which can be found here and also here. If you didn't enjoy those two posts, then you'll HATE this one. Seriously, you might as well just not bother reading it. Today's reviews are of 'The Bad Sleep Well,' and 'I Live in Fear' two movies tied together by little other than dysfunctional families, but both worth your time. Enjoy. As always, spoilers follow.

The Bad Sleep Well [1960]

An interesting, colourful poster. I'm already happy [source]

I wasn't expecting much when I first saw this, but I like it. The first I’d heard of it was reading something Kurosawa himself said, that he wasn’t happy with the end result. It's a loose, pessimistic interpretation of Hamlet. It’s certainly his least famous Shakespeare adaptation (throne of blood and Ran, now those are movies). Here the intrigue of the Danish royal family is replaced with the contemporary intrigue found in the boardroom of a Japanese corporation. It’s a largely successful, recreation of Hamlet decades before the Lion King made it popular.

Nishi and his wife at their lavish, extravagant, arrest-filled wedding.

 Toshiro Mifune stars as Koichi Nishi, a spectacled salaryman who is investigating the death of his (secret) father in an apparent suicide. The densely plotted story slowly  exposing the corruption at the heart of the corporation. This corruption is personified through Nishi’s father-in-law, a man who is willing to betray family, forsake his morals, and force his workers to commit suicide in order to prevent himself being caught. The conclusion is heartbreaking, after Nishi finally makes peace with his wife, she is then tricked into exposing him to a violent (off-screen) death at the hands of her father’s henchmen. In ‘Hamlet’, Claudius is killed, his equivalent in this movie is seen at the end explaining the situation as satisfactory to an unknown person on the phone: a sinister, potentially governmental person even more powerful and influential than himself. 

The otherwise unnamed president of the 'Public Corporation' lies to reporters.

The booklet of the DVD explains that Kurosawa sought to make a movie of ‘some social significance’ and that a suggestion of governmental corruption was relatively shocking at the time in Japan, although not as shocking as Kurosawa would have hoped. He goes on, that he wanted to expose corporate fraudsters, whom he describes as being among the worst people on earth “these people hide behind the facade of some great organisation like a company or a corporation - and consequently no one ever really know how dreadful they are, what awful things they do.”

One of the President's lackeys, terrified at seeing the 'ghost' of a dead colleague.

The movie itself is solid, though not quite a classic. It's densely plotted, and while there is little action per se, there is a lot of implied violence, suicide and murder. The movie’s opening scene takes place in a wedding which slowly builds up into arrests and intrigue. It is tense and sets the story incredibly well. This introduction was described by Francis Ford Coppola as “as perfect as any film I have ever seen.” After this thrilling and intriguing introduction, the plot meanders a little, and while every shot is composed and interesting, a lot go on for too long, which helps to sap tension away. Certainly it’s possible that if scenes were more to the point it would have helped to increase the tension.

A scene taken from the opening scenes of the movie. The gathered press look on at the wedding as a controversial cake is wheeled in. Much more exciting than it should be.

For example, Nishi’s ally, a lifelong friend, is a major character but serves no purpose other than showing the tough life which they had lived before Nishi started work with the company. The scenes between the two when they reminisce could easily take a bit of a trim. However, the movie is charming and thought-provoking. I particularly like the scene where one poor sap is forced to commit suicide and chooses – of course - to throw himself into an active volcano. His interception by Nishi leads to him being kept secretly in Nishi’s place, allowing the character to turn up unexpectedly, scaring the shit out of the bosses co-conspirators, and is suggestive of the ghost in Hamlet.

Here, outside their bunker, Nishi and his mate (left) crack wise about the past with their new ally.

Nishi’s character is shown to be powerful, courageous, and determined, but his vulnerable side is shown with his relation with his wife. His wife, the daughter of the corrupt boss, was supposed to be hated, a symbol of the corruption of her father. However, Nishi eventually allows himself to show his true feelings for her. She is unusually sympathetic for a Kurosawa heroine, she is sweet and caring, and with one leg shorter than the other which makes her more sympathetic and vulnerable. It is a shame that her desire to care for Nishi allows his location to be found and leads to his death. This also goes to show what an evil character her father is, willing to trick his own family to preserve his innocence.

Scenes from the bunker, Nishi's wife is arriving (behind the bloke on the stairs).

In conclusion, despite its pacing and lack of on-screen action, this is a tense almost-masterpiece, which benefits especially from re-watching. As such, it is recommended, but perhaps not as the first Kurosawa movie you should watch. Culturally interesting is the Japanese attitude to suicide. This movie, released a decade and a half after the war, still has a deference to superiors which still allows for unquestioning suicide at their request. The methods are also interesting (jumping in a volcano to death is an impressive piece of thinking and is impressively filmed piece), and the movie’s theme is that the very worst people are the ones who are getting away with it, a truthful, but pessimistic conclusion still very apt today.

I live in Fear* [1955] 

Not a great poster, I prefer more colour, and less Japanese version of Penfold from Danger Mouse [source]

Is a difficult, very poignant movie about the difficulties of life in the shadow of nuclear Armageddon. Kurosawa himself stated afterwards that this is ‘a film that you create to make an account of yourself at the end of your life’ and developed its ideas in response to the testing of nuclear bombs on the Bikini Attoll. Its themes of helplessness in the face of fear of the Armageddon have even been applied directly as analogous to American reaction following the 9/11 attacks.

It stars a nearly unrecognisable Toshiro Mifune as Kiichi Nakajima, the ageing patriarch of a family which runs a successful foundry. He was around for the nuclear bomb attacks in the Second World War, and, fearful of further attacks and now nuclear testing, he seeks to move to Brazil to best protect his extended family. 

See, nearly unrecognisable. Mifune is the feminine looking one on the far right (joking).

He is a complicated, seemingly unsympathetic character. As well as direct family, whom he cares for, he has children with mistresses, despite the feelings of his wife. He treats these mistresses and their children well, and seeks to take them all with him to Brazil. The conflict between the legitimate and illegitimate family make for an interesting show. The central conflict of the movie revolves around this extended family seeking a legal declaration that he is now incompetent, while we are reminded that his fears are indeed rational.

A scene, intercut with legal reports, from the beginning of the movie.

This central dilemma, is complicated not just by the Japanese deference to the father, but the fact that
Nakajima remains the smartest, most business-savvy of the family. His declaration would prevent an enforced move to Brazil, but would almost definitely lead to the end of their family business, especially when we meet the oldest son, the heir, and he is a silly bully. Without Nakajima, their business will fail, but with him in charge, they will be made to move to Brazil. A final, devastating act by Nakajima ensures that he will be declared incompetent, and our last view of him is as a terrified inpatient in a mental hospital. The doctor in charge, Takashi Shimura, explains that he is right to be so afraid, and that really, everyone who ignores the threat of nuclear annihilation is the one who is really insane.

Most of the extended family for an evening bickering over money.

It’s a thought-provoking piece on competence, family, fear, and even reflects the changing roles of family in contemporary Japan. As with any Kurosawa piece, there are myriad beautiful scenes. For example, Nakajima’s instinct to protect his grandchild when lightning strikes, reminding him of the flash of nuclear war. Furthermore, in the middle of a tense family legal trial, Nakajima brings all his kids a drink, complete with straw, showing that there is more to him than just a patriarchal desire for safety, there is genuine love for his kids. This moral complexity ensures this movie is more than just a nuclear fear movie.

Mifune also gives a fantastic performance as Nakajima, an old man, despite being only in his thirties. Mifune conveys the frailty and dignity of a man approaching old age through no more than dyed hair and glasses, he is notably make-up free. It is well known that this part was written for Takashi Shimura, who makes an appearance as a doctor instead, but the studio put pressure on to have Mifune as the star. However, Mifune acquits himself well, inhabiting the role and reminding us that he was much more than just a handsome man, but a gifted actor.

Takashi Shimura (right) and one of Nakajima's illegitimate children in the sanitarium Nakajima ends up in.

The conclusion is worrying, after destroying the family foundry to ensure a migration, Nakajimi is locked up and his extended family bicker over their now destroyed business. Did he act rashly or rationally? Was there a genuine threat to life? Were his actions insane or done out of benevolence towards his family? Possibly, to all of these questions.

Recommended.

*On a sidenote, I’ve argued at length that at the time dropping the nuclear bomb was a legitimate decision to make. While it showed the Russians that the Americans had the upper hand in the upcoming cold war, and could therefore be said to have been done for political reasons. It also ended the war quicker than a land invasion of Japan would have, and it forced the Emperor to admit defeat, thus preventing (potentially) millions of suicides by disgraced citizens of Japan. I’m aware that thousands of people were killed instantly and many more died as a result of injuries sustained after, which is awful, of course. Japan was committing horrendous atrocities throughout the war, just look up ‘comfort women’ ‘the rape of nanking’ or the Burma line, and you’ll see what I mean. Certainly At the time, it was a legitimate decision to drop the bombs. However, it was not like, as has been depicted in many movies (though less so this one) that the Japanese were sitting around, minding their own business, when the Americans came out of nowhere an nuked them. – as it is, I am choosing to look at this movie not as a self-pitying call from the Japanese at the great harm that the nuclear bomb caused, but as an apolitical family take on how best to protect your family.